LAKERS NOTEBOOK: Finally, it's time to get serious

The preliminaries came to a merciful end late Wednesday. And not a moment too soon.

Bigger and more meaningful games are coming up next, starting with Game 1 of the Lakers' first-round playoff series against New Orleans on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center. It's been a long wait for the Lakers.

Everything has been building to this point, in one way or another, since Phil Jackson announced last summer he would return to coach the Lakers for one final season and try to guide them to a three-peat in what he called his "last stand."

With the 82-game tune-up the Lakers regarded as the regular season out of the way, now they can get serious about delivering Jackson a third consecutive championship, his sixth with the franchise and 12th overall.

If the regular season is an indication, it's going to be a slog.

"I think we're anxious to get into it," Jackson said Thursday, a day after the Lakers ended the regular season as the Western Conference's No. 2-seeded team with a 57-25 record. "I think our players enjoy playoff basketball."

The Lakers seemed to grow weary of the regular season after winning 17 of 18 games after the All-Star break. They lost five of their final seven games and settled for the second seed in the West behind San Antonio.

"We've had a very up-and-down finish," Jackson said. "There's no doubt the last 25 games don't make sense in a lot of ways, having a great winning sequence of games and then losing five in a row from one Sunday to the next.

"Some of it is about the wear and tear of the season, obviously, but some of it is about losing focus at some time. I think it was a disappointment to lose at home against Denver (April 3) and kind of see our hopes fade of finishing in first place."

As recently as last week, the Lakers appeared to be healthy, far more so than going into the final games of the 2009-10 regular season.

Then they started coming down with a string of injuries and illnesses that could mean they'll be short-handed Sunday.

Andrew Bynum suffered a bone bruise in his right knee during the Lakers' victory Tuesday over the Spurs and couldn't play in the regular-season finale, an overtime thriller over the Kings in what could be their final game in Sacramento.

Bynum's effectiveness for Sunday's game is uncertain, according to Jackson.

"I can't tell you that at all now," he said. "That's premature."

Matt Barnes is expected to play in Game 1 after an MRI exam Wednesday revealed no new damage to his surgically repaired right knee. He didn't play Tuesday against the Spurs or Wednesday against the Kings.

Steve Blake also has chicken pox. He sat out the last two games and might not be ready to play until later in the series with the Hornets. He was one of a handful of Lakers players, including Kobe Bryant, who didn't have it as a child.

Jackson fined

The NBA reportedly fined Jackson $75,000 for comments he made last week about the possibility of a lockout-shortened season in 2011-12.